Stability of Inhomogeneous Superstructures from Renormalized Mean-field Theory of the t--J Model

TL;DR

This paper investigates the stability of inhomogeneous superstructures in cuprate superconductors using the t--J model and renormalized mean-field theory, revealing a bond order wave with small currents and charge modulations, but no supersolid phase.

Contribution

It demonstrates the stability of a 4a x 4a bond order wave with specific current and charge modulations in the t--J model, extending understanding of inhomogeneous states in cuprates.

Findings

Identification of a 4a x 4a bond order wave with small inhomogeneous currents.

Observation of charge density modulations similar to pair density waves.

No evidence of a supersolid phase involving superconducting decoupling.

Abstract

Using the t--J model (which can also include Coulomb repulsion) and the ``plain vanilla'' renormalized mean-field theory of Zhang et al. (1988), stability of inhomogeneous 4a x 4a superstructures as those observed in cuprates superconductors around hole doping 1/8 is investigated. We find a non-uniform 4a x 4a bond order wave involving simultaneously small (~ 10^-2 t) inhomogeneous staggered plaquette currents as well as a small charge density modulation similar to pair density wave order. On the other hand, no supersolid phase involving a decoupling in the superconducting particle-particle channel is found.